For cooking foods such as soups, beverages and sauces, cooking appliances having heating elements and a mixing blade may be used for simultaneous cooking and stirring. However, although a number of such appliances are known a need exists for a cooking appliance that is more versatile and convenient to use.
Exemplary of the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 7,780,337, which describes a cooking appliance comprising a pot which is demountable from a base in which a blender drive and a power supply is disposed. A heating element is fixed in the base of the pot and a blender blade is centrally located in a recess in the base. This arrangement lacks versatility in as much as it provides only a vigorous blending action suitable for certain recipes, and lacks the ability to provide a gentler stirring action, particularly over the whole area of the heated base. It is also difficult to clean owing to shape of the base, and the need to avoid water damage to the electrical couplings for the heating element in the base of the pot.
In appliances, such as electric rice cookers, it is known to provide a base in which a cavity is provided to receive a pot. In the bottom of the base, a heating element is spring mounted and urged outwardly of the base. When the pot is dropped into the base, the spring is compressed, until the pot drops sufficiently to be supported on the rim of the cavity. This arrangement provides for stable positioning of the pot. However the drawbacks are that the base is relatively large, making storage problematic. A heavy pot is also needed, particularly a pot with a thick metallic base to avoid localised hot spots, in which case good thermal performance is achieved as the spring ensures reliable contact with the element.
Advantageously an improved cooking appliance providing for simultaneous cooking and stirring should also address drawbacks such as undue complexity, limited adjustability, difficulty, and/or otherwise lack the means for performing a consistent heating and stirring function. It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate the above disadvantages or more generally to provide an improved cooking appliance.